


The Best is Yet to Come, Or Is It?

by elbeen



Category: Desperate Housewives
Genre: Drama, Friendship, Gen, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-04
Updated: 2015-01-04
Packaged: 2018-03-05 06:35:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,715
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3109712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elbeen/pseuds/elbeen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bree has just found out about Rex's death and she's devastated. Will she ever be able to fix the mistakes she's made? Will she trust her friends and let her emotions out? What exactly happened to Rex?</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Best is Yet to Come, Or Is It?

**Author's Note:**

> This was written in 2005, just after the season finale.

Bree stood in her bedroom, trying to pick out an outfit for Rex to be buried in. She didn't like the sound of that in her head; it wasn't  _her_ bedroom, it was  _she and Rex's_ bedroom. Holding his ties in her hand, she sat down on the bed, sighing deeply. Bree couldn't choose a shirt, a tie, pants, or anything. Nothing was good enough and none of it felt rights.

_'Of course it doesn't feel right'_ she thought,  _'this wasn't supposed to happen. He was too young; we were supposed to spend our whole lives together and not have the time cut short. What happened to "the best is yet to come"?'_

She let a single tear roll down her cheek and watched as it fell onto the tie she was still holding tightly. The phone rang and she tried to ignore it, but answered after three rings.

"Hello." She answered, dully.

"Hey!" Lynette's voice answered, "Do you want us to come with you to the hospital tomorrow for the operation?"

There was silence from Bree's end of the phone so Lynette continued, "It might be better than being alone."

"Uh, Rex…he…died a few hours ago." Bree quietly answered.

"What?" Lynette asked, truly shocked, "But the operation isn't until tomorrow! What happened?"

"I don't know; he just wasn't strong enough." Bree replied, as calmly as she could.

"Oh my God. Honey, I'm so sorry." She paused, "What about Andrew and Danielle?"

"They're with their grandparents for the weekend; I thought it would be better if they weren't home alone while Rex was staying in the hospital because I knew I'd be there most of the time," Bree explained, "There's no use in ruining their weekend so I'll tell them tomorrow evening when they get home. I don't quite know how to tell deal with them right now anyway; they'll blame me."

"Don't worry about that right now. I'll call them girls. You probably haven't eaten; we'll bring lunch."

Bree said nothing in an attempt to hold back the tears that were threatening to spill from her eyes, but Lynette knew she was listening.

"We'll be over in a few minutes." Lynette finished before hanging up.

No more than ten minutes later, the Van de Kamp's doorbell rang, and when Bree answered it she found her three friends on the doorstep with lunch, as promised. She made an effort to smile at them, a lump rising in the back of her throat.

"I can't believe you guys just dropped everything and did this for me."

Susan smiled sympathetically, "That's what friends are for, aren't they?"

Each of them hugged Bree on their way into the house and apologized for her loss, not knowing what else to say.

Bree still wasn't ready to let her guard down in front of her friends, so she tried to keep her mind busy with other things and keep it off of Rex.

"Would anyone like something to drink?" she asked, heading to the kitchen as the others sat down.

"Don't worry about it, we've got drinks!" Gabrielle called to her.

"Well I can make tea. Or how about some cookies I baked yesterday. I can make something now if…"

Lynette interrupted her, "Bree we're all fine, just come sit down, you need to relax."

"Lynette I'm fine." She tried to rationalize her calm exterior, "We'd been separated and nearly divorced. Things weren't going to suddenly get better after the operation."

She walked over and sat down in the chair, no emotion expressed on her face.

"Honey, we saw how worried you were at the hospital, it's okay to be upset." Gabrielle said.

"Yea, it's even okay to cry. I do it all the time!" Susan joked.

The three women looked at each other and waited for Bree to say something. Instead she just put her head down in her hands. She thought about how long she's wanted to be able to share her true feelings instead of keeping up her perfect façade; it was a constant inner-struggle and on most days she was able to face the world with a smile, but not today, not on the day her husband died. She looked up a minute later with tearstains on her face. Immediately her friends moved closer; Susan and Lynette sliding on either side of her on the couch and Gabrielle kneeling on the floor in front of her. They had rarely seen their friend cry; she always kept her emotions so well hidden. They just sat there silently with tears in their eyes, trying to comfort Bree as she began to sob harder. All the thoughts Bree had been afraid to say aloud and the emotions she had tried so hard to contain suddenly became too much for her to deal with alone and she began to reveal them to her friends.

"This is all my fault! I should have gotten him to the hospital sooner. Why did I stop to make the bed? What was I thinking?"

Gabrielle spoke first, "Sweetie, this isn't your fault. Getting him there quicker wouldn't have helped."

"But I haven't treated him well lately either. If I hadn't have tried to make him jealous with George…maybe that weakened his heart and…"

She was cut off by Susan, "No, you can't blame yourself Bree. Maybe it was just his time."

"I loved him, I really did," Bree sobbed.

"We know you did honey, and he knew too." Lynette said somberly.

"I miss him already. What I am going to do without him? When he moved out it was different because I knew he was just at the motel and he wouldn't stay there for very long. This is different. I feel so empty and completely alone."

"You're not alone, you have us. I know it doesn't make up for losing Rex, but remember that you'll never be completely alone; just pick up the phone and one of us will be here." Susan said, trying to reassure Bree.

After a while, Susan and Lynette had gone into the kitchen to clean up, which left Bree, now calmer, and Gabrielle alone on the sofa.

"Gabby, I really appreciate you guys doing this for me, without me even calling you."

"Bree, good friends are there when you call them, great friends are there when they know you need them."

A weak smile formed on Bree's face and a moment later Susan and Lynette returned from the kitchen. Susan said she had to go because Julie would be home soon, but she told Bree to call if she needed anything. Lynette realized it was time for her to go pick up the twins from school, and Gabrielle decided it would be a good time for her to leave as well. As Susan and Gabby left, Lynette stayed for an extra minute to talk to Bree.

"When are you going to the hospital to collect Rex's things and see his body?"

"Tomorrow." Bree quietly replied.

Lynette knew Bree wouldn't want to impose on anyone by asking them to come with her.

"Do you want me to come with you?"

"You'd do that?"

"Of course! Just call me and I'll be ready in five minutes. With Tom home, I don't have to worry about finding a babysitter."

"Thank you Lynette, really."

"Anytime. See you tomorrow."

With her friends leading their own lives and her children still unaware of the tragedy at home, Bree was left by herself sitting on the sofa, staring at the blank television. She didn't feel like watching anything so she decided to read for a while, but she just couldn't concentrate. As it neared dinnertime, Bree felt like she should be preparing a meal, until she realized she had no one to prepare it for. She did something that she wouldn't normally do; she took a walk to the nearest pizza place and got a single slice to take home and eat. She felt better after being out in the fresh air, but when she arrived home, the feeling of despair returned. She set a single place at the table, and as she ate she looked at the empty seats. First was Danielle's chair and then Andrew's, but she kept telling herself that they would be home tomorrow and their chairs would no longer be empty. She knew there was no way of avoiding the emptiness of the chair across the table, where Rex usually sat. She thought about all the family dinners they'd had recently, and during most of them she and Rex had been arguing. If they weren't arguing, then they were disciplining Andrew or finding out secrets about Danielle that certainly didn't make Bree happy. Once she had dreaded the tension at dinner, but now she longed for those days to return; it may not have been the ideal situation, but it was better than being alone.

That night, Bree couldn't sleep. She was constantly restless and continued to get up every few minutes to open or close the window, but the temperature never felt right. Every time she managed to fall asleep, she'd see Rex's face and wake up. The bed had never felt so big before, even other nights when Rex was gone she was able to sleep peacefully, but tonight was different; she knew the bed would stay empty. She thought back to the last time she and Rex had been laying there, just before his heart attack. She wished she could turn back time and change the way she reacted.

After a nearly sleepless night, Bree wasn't looking forward to the long day ahead of her. She knew she had to go to the hospital to collect whatever Rex had brought with him the night he was checked-in, and inevitably she'd see his body at the funeral, so she preferred to see him for a moment while he was still in the hospital morgue before they dressed him in the outfit she finally deemed acceptable for him to be buried in.

Bree had coffee and a light breakfast before calling Lynette around 10am. Lynette drove her mini-van to the Van de Kamp's house and then drove Bree to the hospital. Both women were unusually quiet on the ride there, but neither of them felt like talking when they knew what was ahead of them. When they arrived at the hospital, a nurse brought them to the room where Rex had been staying and left them alone, saying that she'd be back in a few minutes after they had a chance to gather Rex's belongings and then she'd show them to where they had to go next.

"Wow, she was sympathetic." Lynette said sarcastically.

"I guess they're used to it; working here they must see deaths every day."

"Yea, but I couldn't get used to it."

"Neither could I," Bree sighed, "I'll bring home his extra pair of clothes. What should I do with his shaving cream and razor? Should I just get rid of it? We're not going to need it, but yet I feel like it should be there for him. That sounds ridiculous, I know."

"Nah, it'll just take some time. Put it in the bag and bring it home for now."

Lynette glanced around the room to see of there was anything else, and out of the corner of her eye she saw an envelope with Bree's name written on it on the table next to what was Rex's bed.

"Bree, this is addressed to you," she said handing Bree the envelope.

Bree sat down on the edge of the bed and opened it. She read the note inside, recognizing Rex's handwriting:

_Bree,_

_I understand and I forgive you._

_Love, Rex_

Her hands trembled as she finished reading it, but she was unsure of what it meant. She silently passed the note to Lynette.

"What did he mean?" Lynette asked after she had read it.

"I have no idea." Bree answered.

Just then Rex's doctor walked into the room.

"Hello Bree." He said.

"Hello Doctor," she replied, "Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure." He responded.

"Do you know anything about this note?" she asked, showing him what Rex had written.

"Yes." He replied flatly, "He found out what you were doing to his food."

"What I was doing to his food?" Bree questioned, still confused.

"Yes. From his results we figured out that he must have been getting the extra potassium somehow and you were the one who prepared his meals, so it was the only thing that made sense."

"That's ridiculous!" Bree cried, "I loved my husband, I would never do that to him!"

"Your marital problems were no secret; people sometimes do things out of desperation without thinking of the consequences."

"I can't believe you're accusing me of this!"

The doctor silently walked out of the room, leaving Bree and Lynette stunned.

"Lynette, you know I wouldn't do that to Rex!"

"I know. Something else must have affected his results, but I know you wouldn't do that; don't worry."

A few minutes later, a nurse wheeled a cot into the room with a sleeping man on it.

"He's just waking up from the anesthesia, but he's doing fine and should be feeling better shortly. I'll be back to check on him in a few minutes" the nurse said, and then walked out of the room before Bree could reply. She just looked bewilderedly at the nurse and then at the man on the cot. She was speechless.

"Rex?" she managed to say softly, still astonished.

"Hey Bree," he said smiling, "I didn't expect you to be here yet."

"What-what happened?"

"Nothing. I just had my surgery; there was an opening an hour earlier and I wasn't sure if they called to tell you."

"No I didn't get that phone call, but I did get the call last night telling me you were dead!"

"What are you talking about?"

"And the note you left me from the afterlife!"

He laughed, "Bree you didn't really believe that note was sent from the afterlife, did you? I left it for you incase things didn't go well in surgery."

A young doctor came rushing in, "I'm sorry. I owe both of you a big apology; I was misinformed last night when I made that phone call Mrs. Van de Kamp. I was told that Dr. Van de Kamp had passed away, but I was just supposed to tell you that his surgery was going to be moved up one hour and the death message was for the next patient on the list, but the post-its were on the wrong folders." 

He continued, "We're waiving all your charges for Rex's hospital stay because of the trouble we've caused. Again, I'm sorry." The doctor hurried out of the room.

"I'm glad you're okay Rex," Lynette said, "I'm just gonna wait out here and give you guys some time alone."

Rex smiled, "Bree, I promise I'll be better; we'll work on this marriage and everything will be okay, despite that little trick you played with my food!"

"Rex I didn't do anything to your food. Honestly, I didn't. Honey, you should know I wouldn't do that to you!"

"Well I didn't want to believe it at first, but I thought you were angry with me for what I've done in the past few months."

"I was, but I'm not anymore. I'm sorry for the way I acted and how I delayed taking you to the hospital. But I made sure all of your food was prepared according to your special diet; I didn't want to jeopardize your health."

"I believe you Bree."

"I don't know what went wrong!"

"I don't know either, but we'll find out. I know it wasn't anything you did."

"Rex," Bree began, "I didn't realize how lucky I was to have you until it was almost too late; I love you and I don't want you to ever leave again."

"I don't want to leave either. I love you too."

She leaned over onto his cot and gently kissed him, knowing he was still a little weak from surgery.

Rex smiled up at her and Bree smiled back down at him and said, "Now I know, the best  _is_ yet to come."


End file.
